Posts Tagged ‘lemon’

I love summer for many reasons – not having to wear 5 layers before stepping outside, drinking coconut water instead of plain water all day long, more sun-lit hours, gorgeous flowers everywhere, and the beautiful, colorful produce.

Fruits are aplenty and in all shapes, sizes and color – tart, sweet, and juicy, the dessert possibilities are endless.

These raspberry lemon bars are a mouthful of summer. The shortbread base is crumbly and buttery, and the lemon-raspberry topping is fresh, citrusy and sweet all at once.

These are very easy to make, and they look quite spectacular don’t you think?

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF , grease a 9 by 9 inch baking tin, and then line with parchment paper leaving the edges to over-hang. Using an electric whisk, cream the butter and sugar together, then add the flour and knead gently until a smooth dough is formed.

Press into the prepared tin, spreading with your fingers so that the dough is evenly distributed in a uniform layer in the tin. Bake for 15 minutes.

Using an electric whisk, mix the eggs, sugar and flour together. Add the raspberries and lemon juice and mix again. Pour over the baked shortbread crust and return to the oven for another 20 minutes. Remove and cool.

Dust with icing sugar, and decorate with lemon slices, raspberries and mint leaves or sprinkles if you wish. Cut into 9 squares and serve.

My answers varied from dancer and fairy, to “someone who is with animals” and cricketer.

Infinitely more exciting than my brother, I’d say, who usually answered liftman and policeman.

Here are the two of us monsters.

My love for baking didn’t arrive until much, much later in my life. It’s funny how that happens.

Suddenly one day you do something and think- Oh my god! This is amazing! Why haven’t I been doing this all this time?

A few months ago, watching Junior Masterchef Australia and those crazy talented kids on the show made me wonder about how lucky it is to find what you’re good at early in life. These kids can give an adult chef a serious run for his/her money. Their passion really reinforces the fact that age has nothing to do with talent.

They were all super talented kids in the kitchen, but their poise, sportsmanship, and gentleness was what made them truly lovable to me.

I have been wanting to try Isabella’s (Junior Masterchef winner!) Lemon Meringue Cupcakes for a while. It wasn’t as easy as she made it look, but they were delicious nonetheless.

The cupcakes are slightly unusual because the recipe asks for cream instead of butter. So the cupcakes are more dense than fluffy, but that helps when you have to carve out a piece from the centre to fill with lemon curd.

Speaking of Lemon curd- even if you don’t want cupcakes, make this lemon curd. It is so divine, I can guarantee you will lick the spoon and pan and bowl and whatever else the lemon curd touches- clean. It would be lovely as lemon tart filling too. Will try that soon 🙂

The meringue gets beautifully golden after only a few seconds in the grill, but retains a creamy softness inside.

All together, a posh looking cupcake with a yummy lemon curd heart.

If nothing else, just make the lemon curd. You will be a happy child 🙂

1. Preheat the oven to 180º C. Line a 12-hole cupcake tray with paper liners.
2. Put the cream, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until well combined. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt and add this to the cream mixture, a little at a time continuing to whisk until it is smooth.
3. Evenly divide the batter between the cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes. Leave to cool in the tray.

For the lemon curd

1. Put the lemon juice and the butter in a non-stick pan, and heat over a low flame until the butter melts. Add the sugar, egg, and yolks and whisk non-stop until the mixture becomes smooth and thick. It’s essential that you’re whisking continuously and briskly after the adding the eggs, or they might scramble. If you feel the pan is too hot, take it off the heat for a while to cool a bit and then put it back on the flame again.
2. Pour the lemon curd into a shallow tray or plate and leave to cool.

For the meringue

1. In a clean, dry bowl whisk the egg whites with an electric whisk until you have firm peaks. Add the sugar a little at a time and continue whisking. Transfer the meringue mixture into a piping bag with your choice of nozzle.

Assembly

1. Preheat the grill setting of your oven to 160º C. Cut a round hole in the centre of each cupcake and scoop out a small piece. Fill the hole with some lemon curd.
2. Pipe meringue over each cupcake carefully. Then place the cupcakes in the oven for about 1 minute (more if you want your meringue darker- but be careful it burns quickly). Remove from the oven and enjoy! 🙂

The rains come visiting at any time, with absolutely no regard for my plans, my clothes hung out to dry, or the day I decide to wear new shoes.

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Quite rude.

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Maybe a luscious lemon tart will facilitate better behaviour?

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This recipe comes from David Lebovitz. You can read all about his fabulous recipe here.

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The thing is I’ve made puff pastry dough and tart dough before, and I have to admit it’s one of the most tedious things I have ever done. There is a lot of ice water, mixing, rolling, folding, freezing, and other such things involved. You need to make sure the dough is super cold at all times, and that is a tad difficult when you’re baking in June and in Delhi.

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So obviously I was super pleased when I discovered that I could make wonderful tart dough and not care if it was cold. Infact, in this recipe, the dough has to be hot. Hot enough to burn your finger (I would know).

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The fun thing is it’s so easy that a baby could make it. Except for the hot dough bit. We don’t want you to have to deal with crying babies who’ve just burnt their baby fingers.

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This French tart (to see the original recipe go here) is buttery, crumbly, and perfectly melt-in-your-mouth. The lemon curd filling is tarty and slightly sweet, and makes you stop thinking about your new, wet shoes drying against the wall.

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I have modified the recipe a little bit. I like my lemon tarts really lemony. If you like it more sweet and less tart, just reduce the lemon juice and increase the sugar by a few tablespoons.

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Hello rain. Would you like a slice?

Make this and bribe the rains. And wait, hoping they’ll have the decency make an appointment before their next visit.

Preheat the oven to 210º C. In a medium, oven-proof bowl, mix the butter, oil, water and sugar.

Place the bowl in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the liquids are bubbling slightly.

Remove the bowl from the oven CAREFULLY (burnt finger alert!) and put the flour in immediately. Stir until it all comes together, and the dough leaves the sides of the bowl.

Put the dough in a 9-inch tart tin with a removable base, and spread it out so it cools a little. Once slightly cool, use your fingers to spread the dough all over the base and sides. Prick all over with a fork.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until it is golden. Leave the tart case to cool before filling, or freeze to use later.

For the lemon curd filling

Preheat the oven to 180º C.

In a non-stick pan, heat the lemon juice, zest, sugar and butter. Once the butter has melted, turn off the heat.

Beat the eggs and yolks in a small bowl. Pour a few spoons of the warm lemon-butter mixture into the eggs gradually, while stirring. This has to be done to warm the egg mixture before pouring it into the lemon-butter mixture. If you skip this, you will have scrambled eggs. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Now pour the warmed egg mixture into the lemon mixture and cook over very low heat till it thickens. Keep stirring gently.

Pour this warm mixture through a strainer into the cooled tart case. Press down with a spoon to push the mixture through the strainer properly.

Spread the mixture evenly in the tart case. Don’t worry if you think the layer of filling is too thin. The creamy richness will come through in every mouthful.

Pop the tart in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the filling is just set, but slightly wobbly. Let it cool before you stuff your face in it 🙂 It tastes good when it’s been sitting in the fridge for a while as well.